I got my first Sonos speaker more than five years ago, and since then I’ve installed a speaker in nearly every room of my small house (except the bathrooms). Just a few weeks ago I treated myself to the rechargeable and portable Sonos Move so I can better enjoy music in my back yard.
Though there are many more networked audio systems out there, with some reported to offer higher fidelity, I’ve stuck with Sonos because the system is pretty intuitive, sounds very good and supports the widest array of audio services. The latter reason is why I wrote that “My Sonos Is an Internet Radio” in 2015.
Earlier this year Sonos made internet radio even more accessible by rolling out the simply named Sonos Radio. The key value of Sonos Radio is that it offers a bevy of curated internet stations to every Sonos owner, whether or not you have an account for any other service, free or paid.
What I appreciate about Sonos Radio is that they didn’t choose just one partner. There are stations from both the iHeart and TuneIn directories, which means you’ll find nearly most local broadcast stations as well as plenty of internet-only ones, from local to international.
Sonos Radio: From Cruise to Chill
Sonos also has about three dozen of its own stations across most genres, from hip-hop to show tunes. Though I was skeptical at first, they quickly won me over.
One of my “guilty pleasures” is the genre now known as Yacht Rock, thanks to the parodical early YouTube series of the same name. While I enjoy the soothing melodies of Michael McDonald, Steely Dan and Christopher Cross, I find most yacht rock styled internet radio to be either too Catholic, maintaining a too-tight playlist centered only on the most well-known hits, or too soft, serving me too much Bread and America, and not enough sophisticated pop.
With a bit of trepidation I dialed up Sonos Radio’s “Soft Rock / Yacht Rock” station, Cruise Control. I got some tasty Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers right off the bat, but then I heard some Phoenix. Originating in the 21st century I didn’t expect to hear the latter band, but their smooth but sophisticated sound totally fit in with the groove. Clearly the Sonos Radio programmers were more fixated on the idea of Yacht Rock rather than a frozen-in-time definition. Since then Cruise Control has been on my backyard chilling-with-a-drink rotation along with the more indie-rock focused Sunset Chill.
Other Sonos stations follow a similar familiar-but-just-different-enough pattern to make them stand out in the sea of ultra-genrefied (and calcified) internet stations. My only quibble with Sonos Radio is that it’s ad supported, and mostly the same ther ads from well-known national radio advertisers are in heavy rotation. Luckily the ad load is low – maybe three or four an hour at most.
AccuRadio Shows a Human Touch
I also want to give a shout out to AccuRadio, which requires a free account to use with Sonos, but that’s it. The service has 1000 stations across 50 genres, and can get very, delightfully, specific. My favorites right now are World Fusion, which melds jazz and world music – but not remotely in an easy listening way – and 1980s Alternative, which doesn’t hew as closely to new wave and synth pop as similar channels from other services, adding in a healthy dose of punk, post-punk, industrial and guitar rock.
All of AccuRadio’s stations are curated by humans and you can tell. There are enough deep cuts and left-field choices mixed in with more familiar tracks to keep you interested over the course of many hours of listening.
